


Through the Eyes of a Child

by TheSonsofDurin



Series: Earth-97 [1]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2017-12-02
Packaged: 2019-02-09 00:53:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12876684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSonsofDurin/pseuds/TheSonsofDurin
Summary: Lisa wants to be an Olympic skater. Takes place before Come Alive.





	Through the Eyes of a Child

Lisa Snart tries to be a good person. She really does, despite the fact that her brother and his best friend are sometimes-criminals. She never steals anything. She’s never mean just to be mean. She’s definitely better than her father, but that isn’t really hard to do. He’d been… he’d been the definition of evil, more than anyone else she’s ever met. Even in death nobody can replace him.

She sighs as she laces up her skates. The chill of the ice rink pervades through the barrier between the rink and the bleachers. The bleachers, where her brother is waiting to see her routine. She bites her lip nervously. She knows she’ll do fine, she’s been skating for twelve years, since she was eight, and she’s been a natural. She’s still nervous. Especially since this competition will determine whether she’s Olympics level or not.

Lisa stands. Her outfit, white with only a few traces of bright red, fits her body perfectly. She steps onto the ice as her music begins to play. For the next three and a half minutes she concentrates solely on her routine. Forward spin. Three turn. Ladyback spin. Hop.

Her routine is almost complete when someone in the bleachers catches her eye. It happens during a spin- just a quick flash- but she immediately recognises the woman. And she immediately messes up her move. She hits the ice hands first. She doesn’t look away from her unexpected spectator, even as medics rush onto the ice. Dimly, she’s aware of pain in her wrist. Lisa’s far too busy watching the woman with pretty brown hair and pretty blue eyes that match her own.  _ Why on Earth did she come back after all this time? _

Medics help her to the edge of the ice and into the medic box. Lisa finally turns her eyes away from the woman, knowing that Lenny would have taken over the task of watching, to look at her wrist. It’s swollen and most definitely not facing the right way. A medic is speaking to her. She ignores him.

Not only has she injured her wrist, of course, but probably any chance of ever getting into the Olympics. All because her mother decided to come back after eight years of no contact. Her mother, who Lenny says she looks exactly like. Her mother, who disappeared in the middle of the night and left a scared twelve year old and a broken sixteen year old with their monster of a father. Her mother, who was a coward. Her mother, who she’d never wanted to see again.

Lisa stews over it until the medics let her leave, telling her they set her wrist right, but she should probably still go to the hospital. She meets her brother outside the rink. “You saw her, right?” She hisses. Lenny raises an eyebrow.

“Of course I did, Lis. We even had a chat.” Lenny doesn’t sound all to happy. “She did apologize for making you fall. Speaking of that, how’s your wrist?”

She shakes her head. “It’ll be fine. Where is she now?” She glances around. “You didn’t let her leave, did you?”

Lenny sighs. “No, she’s waiting outside. I stole her keys to make sure she didn’t leave.”

“She could get you arrested for that.” Lisa says flatly.

He snorts. “She may have left us with Lewis, but she wouldn’t get me arrested. She was just a victim as we were, Lis. And even though I’m not her son, she raised me as such.”

It doesn’t help the boiling feeling in her stomach. “Did she say why she came back?” They stop in front of the wide outside doors. “Please tell me she doesn’t want to make amends, because I have no intentions of that.”

“Just said she wanted to talk, Lis.” Lenny pushes a door open. “So talk. Tell her how you feel if you want. Or say nothing of the sort. It’s not up to me.”

She follows him to a silver car parked in the enormous parking lot. Her mother stands nervously near the driver’s side door. The moment they get close enough, her mother opens her mouth.

“I’m so sorry Lisa, I didn’t mean to startle you!” She says. She really looks apologetic. Lisa’s certain she is.

“I get it.” Lisa shrugs. “Doesn’t mean I haven’t lost my chance at the Olympics.”

Her mother flinches. “I see you have just as sharp of a tongue as Leonard.” She says softly. “Whether it’s in your DNA or simple from growing up with Lewis, it certainly came from him.”

“Did you come here just to talk about him?” Lisa almost laughs. “Because that’s the last thing I need.”

Leonard grabs her wrist- the uninjured one- softly.

“I wanted to give you something, Lisa. Not as an apology, even though I owe you one, but as a birthright.” Her mother turns to her car. “I’m sure you remember the stories I used to tell you about Greek Mythology, when you were both children.”

Of course she remembers. Her mother had always been eager to show off her skills as a Mythologist, specializing in Greek Mythology. As children she and Lenny had been told stories, known by heart, of the Greek Gods and heroes, and of the villains and monsters that pervaded them. As a child Lisa had loved them, especially the stories where the heroes wouldn’t have been able to prevail without the help of a woman. She still loves them, she’ll admit to herself, even if they are soured by the memory of her mother’s betrayal.

“What about them, Violet?” Leonard asks. He sounds genuinely interested- he’d loved the stories of Tantalus and Sisyphus, enjoying that the wicked got what was coming for them.

Her mother smiles at the name- she’d always enjoyed when Lenny called her by her real name rather than mother, and Lisa had never known why. Perhaps it was because Lewis had never used her real name and so she was relieved to have someone remember it? “I thought of the god Boreas’s famous children.” She pulls two boxes from the backseat. “I know I left you, and you both have certainly done well with what you were given, but I feel I should give you both one last thing.”

Lisa takes one of the boxes. It’s rather heavy. She crouches and places it on the ground as Lenny does the same with his own. As they open the boxes, her mother speaks again.

“I know they aren’t your favorite myths, either of yours, but…” She takes a deep breath. “Lisa, you’re at home on the ice; and Leonard, you’ve got quite the icy exterior. And the both of you may not be the people that everyone pays attention to but you’ve both got an important role to play, in more lives than your own. I’ve seen it- even today, there were little girls just waiting for you to go out onto the ice, Lisa. You may not get to the Olympics, or you may, but there will always be some way you can be important in someone else’s story. The same is for you, Leonard.”

Leonard looks up from his box. The movement draws Lisa’s eye and she looks up from her own. “Not many people would tell their children they’re only important for supporting other people’s stories.”

“But I know it’s the advice the two of you need.” Her mother says. “Sometimes people need reminding that we aren’t the only people that are important, and other times we need reminding that someone else may find us incredibly irreplaceable in their own lives. I hope these gifts can help you with that.”

With that, she opens the door to her car and gets in. Lisa and Lenny step aside, shift their boxes as well, as she starts the car and drives off. “She really isn’t a good mother.” Lisa comments. Her voice is soft.

Lenny hums in agreement. “She never was. But she was better than nothing, and at least she understands we don’t want her in our lives anymore.”

Lisa looks down into her box, where two white-and-gold ice skates rest on what seems to be a white-and-gold dress. “What did she give you?”

“A parka.” He answers. “Do you think she means I’m a Boread?”

“If you are that must make me Chione.” Lisa tilts her head to the side. “I wouldn’t really say I’m a goddess of snow and ice, though. That’s more like you.”

He snorts. “Then I’m Chione, and you’re a Boread.”

She smiles. “Which one? Zethes or  Calaïs?”

“Both, I suppose. They weren’t given much character development in the myths. Neither was Chione, though.” Lenny reaches down to pick up his box. “I suppose I’ll be carrying the both of these?”

“It’s not like I can.”


End file.
